


Not who you seem to be

by cuddlybangchan



Category: Stray Kids
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Angst, Child Abuse, Gay, Gay Panic, Homophobia, Humor, Idk I’m not good at tagging, Kissing, M/M, Pining, Strong Language, bad boy!AU, other kpop idols mentioned - Freeform, probably no smut but maybe implied sexual content, relationships, triggering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2020-01-23 04:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 20,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18542047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlybangchan/pseuds/cuddlybangchan
Summary: Changbin is the type of guy who wears all black, sleeps in class, and always has his headphones in shutting out the world. He has no friends and everyone avoids him at all costs.Felix is everything Changbin isn’t: bright, full of laughter, and pastel colors. He loves making new friends even with his less than fluent Korean.Felix is the new kid from Australia who made friends with Jisung, Minho, Hyunjin, and Seungmin over the summer before school thanks to his brother Chan, and Chan’s boyfriend Woojin. While most people ignore Changbin’s existence, Felix is intrigued by the dark loner. What will happen when they are assigned to work together?—Or a typical bad boy!au





	1. Chapter 1

“Chan?” It’s barely a whisper, but Chan still manages to hear his brother, Felix, say his name over the phone. He’s crying that much Chan can tell, and all he can think is who the hell does he have to beat up.  
“Felix what’s wrong?” There is silence and it’s deafening. Chan is getting increasingly worried.  
After a few moments he hears a weak, “I can’t take it anymore.” He has no idea what’s happening, but he is close to tears just hearing how broken his brother sounds. Woojin walks in with the coffee he had just made for him and his boyfriend, Chan would think working at a cafe would mean Woojin wouldn’t want to spend his free time doing what he normally does at work, but that’s not the case. The second he sees Chan he knows something is wrong. He walks over setting their drinks down and grabs Chan’s hand just so the boy knows that he is there for him.  
“Felix please talk to me I need to know what happened.” He can hear Felix’s uneven breathing as the younger boy starts to sob. “Did something happen with mom and dad?” He doesn’t know why that’s the first thing he thinks of, Felix has always had a better relationship with their parents than Chan did, but then Felix let’s out a small ‘yes’. Chan doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t want to push Felix to talk about something he doesn’t want to, but he does know all too well how his parents could be. He had just hoped it wouldn’t turn out like this for Felix.  
“Can I come live with you?” Felix finally asks what he planned to ask all along. Chan doesn’t need to ask anymore questions, even though he probably should have, and immediately tells him yes, of course he could come live with him, but that he needed to finish out the school year and then he could move to Korea in the summer. Felix agreed since there was only a few weeks left of classes anyways.  
Their phone call ended a few minutes later after discussing a few more details. The second Chan ended the call Woojin looked at him expectantly wanting to know what had just happened, “Felix is moving to Korea, and he’s living with us, I hope that’s okay with you.”  
“Of course it is, love.” Woojin wraps his arms around Chan cuddling him closer. “I hope he will be okay.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix finally sees Chan for the first time in 2 years.

The last few weeks of school flew by faster than Felix thought they would, and he was so grateful for that. He packed as many of his things as he could without telling his parents his plans. He knew if he told them he was moving to live with Chan in Korea they would put him on lockdown.  
The day finally came that he would be leaving and luckily his parents had already left for work. He grabbed his bags, of course not able to fit all of his belongings, but enough of them. He left a note for his parents telling them he was leaving and for them to not to come after him. He doubted they would anyways.  
One of the few friends he still had from school offered to drive him to the airport, and before he knew it they were there saying their goodbyes.  
He was scared, but he knew this was for the best. He was going to be living in a new country far from everything he’s ever known. His Korean is less than fluent and the only person he would know there would be Chan, and Woojin too, but he didn’t know him as well as he wanted to. They had both already graduated, and he worries about being able to make friends. Even with all of these fears he is happy with this decision. He could not stay in Australia any longer. He could not stay with those people he doesn’t even want to call his parents anymore.

——

“FELIX!” He heard his name yelled from a distance and immediately recognized Chan’s voice. He ran, faster than he had probably run in a long time, into his brothers arms. He had missed him so much. Phone calls just weren’t good enough and he hadn’t seen him in a year, the last time Chan came to visit him in Australia. “Oh my god I’ve missed you so much..” Chan said as he pulled away to look his brother over. “You’ve gotten taller!” Felix giggled at that. Last time they had seen each other Felix had been a few inches shorter than Chan and now they were the same height. “Woojinnie my baby brother is growing up!” Chan let’s out a fake sob causing both Felix and Woojin to start laughing.  
“Hello Woojin hyung it’s nice to see you again,” Felix greets the older boy he hadn’t noticed in his haste to hug his brother.  
“You too Felix!” He says in return, and Felix is so glad to not only have his brother here for him, but also Woojin. He doesn’t know the older boy that well even though Chan had been dating him for over a year now, but he feels like they are going to quickly become good friends. “Well let’s grab your bags and get you to you home! I’m sure you’re very tired.” He agrees because he is in fact extremely tired.  
“We can start showing you around Seoul tomorrow if you want. I’m sure there is a lot you want to see.” Chan says as they make their way to the car.  
“Oh yeah definitely! I’ve always wanted to come here. I’ve been wanting to visit you here for years, but you know..” he doesn’t finish what he is saying, but he doesn’t need to Chan knows exactly why Felix never visited him.  
“Well you are here now so that’s all that matters!” Felix can tell Chan is trying to lighten the mood and he is thankful for that. He really doesn’t want to talk about what is going on with their parents, at least not yet. “Also sometime this week some of our friends are coming over so they can meet you! They are all still in high school, so I figured it would be nice for you to have some friends before starting your first year at school here.”  
Felix feels so relieved to know that one of his major concerns for moving to Korea will hopefully not be a concern any more after this week. Things really seem to be looking up for him.  
The second they make it to Chan and Woojin’s apartment, Felix finds his way to the spare bedroom and drops all of his bags on the floor. He thanks both of them and lays down on his new bed. For the first time in awhile he falls asleep with a smile on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone here is the third chapter sorry for the slow update! This is a little bit of a flashback for you all to see what happened between Chan and his parents to cause such a bad relationship. Hope you enjoy!

*one year prior*

Chan had wished his parents and Felix could have come to his high school graduation. He knew that it would be hard for them to travel all the way to Korea for it, but it was a huge achievement of his. He had decided that he wanted to be a foreign exchange student after his freshman year, and even though his parents weren’t thrilled at the idea they had agreed and Chan was ecstatic, minus leaving Felix behind of course. Chan and Felix were best friends even though Chan was 3 years older, and it did hurt him to leave his best friend behind. Now though, he wouldn’t have changed it for the the world because if he hadn’t moved to Korea he would have never met Woojin. 

Chan and Woojin met on Chan’s first day of school sophomore year. Woojin, a fellow sophomore, had been instructed to show Chan around the school and to his classes, which conveniently were all the same except for one. The two instantly connected and became friends. Woojin introduced Chan to his friends and his brother, Seungmin, and they all became practically inseparable. And after almost two long years of pining after each other, they started dating the beginning of senior year. Their senior year had been incredible and dating only brought them closer. 

Chan had decided to go to university in Korea after he graduated because there were some amazing options when it come to his desired major, music production, and of course because he wanted to stay closer to Woojin. They managed to be accepted to the same school and found a way to be able to share a dorm room together. He couldn’t wait for the school year to start and be able to spend all of his free time with his amazing boyfriend, not like he didn’t already, but he was excited to actually be living with him. 

Chan had decided to visit his family in Australia after graduation, and after much convincing Woojin was going to join him. Chan hadn’t told his parents about his relationship yet, but Felix knew and he was so excited to introduce his brother to such an important person in his life. Felix and Woojin were excited too after a few short conversations they had shared while Chan and Felix had been FaceTiming. Chan was so glad to know his brother was accepting of him and his sexuality, but man was he scared to tell his parents. He truthfully had no idea how they were going to react. 

“You ready baby?” Woojin asks his boyfriend as they walked off the plane that had just landed in Australia. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be I guess,” and with that they walk through the crowds of people until he spots his family waiting for him. He runs and tackles Felix to the ground. God, he had missed his brother so much. “Lixie I can never go 3 years without seeing you in person ever again!”

“Agreed! I missed you so much hyung,” and after a minute they let go of their hug, so that Chan could greet his parents. “Woojin hyung it’s so weird to see you not through a phone!”

“You too Felix, but I’m glad I can finally meet you!” Without warning Felix hugs Woojin because anyone that love his brother maybe as much as he does is a good friend of his. “And it’s nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Bang, my name is Woojin!” He bows to them, trying to make as good of a first impression as he can. 

“Nice to meet you Woojin! I think Chan has mentioned you a few times to us! I’m glad you could accompany him home, it’s good that he made such good friends while studying abroad,” Chan’s mother made Woojin feel so welcome in just a few moments and it eased some of his worry. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad, maybe they would be supportive of Chan and his relationship. 

—

“Absolutely not!” Their week stay in Australia had been super eventful filled with Chan showing Woojin all of his favorite places he used to go as a child and getting to know Chan’s family more. Honestly the whole week had been amazing, until now. “No son of mine will be gay!” The loud words of Chan’s father filled the house. 

“Dad..”

“NO! If you are going to be a filthy fag then you are not my son.” His father could not even look him in the eye. Tears threatened to spill, but he tried to hold them back as best as he could. He could feel Woojin’s hand hold on to his tighter. 

“Mom?” He looked towards her pleading. 

“Why? Why do you have to choose something so horrible as this Chan?” She was crying. He could see the disappointment on her face, and then his tears started to fall. 

“I didn’t choose this mom, it’s who I am! Why can’t you accept that?”

“Because it’s disgusting!”

“Fine! It doesn’t matter anyways I’ll just grab all my things and leave.” He pulls Woojin up with him and runs to his room. At this point he’s sobbing and even with Woojin trying to sooth him, it won’t stop. After a few moments he calms down enough to throw his stuff in his suitcase. He and Woojin make their way downstairs. Their flight back to Korea isn’t until tomorrow, but Chan decides a hotel would be the best option for somewhere to stay for the night. 

His family is still sitting at the table. Felix looks up at him, and it breaks Chan’s heart to see Felix look so sad, it’s obvious he had been crying too. Felix stands wanting to run to his brother and hug him, but he’s stopped by their father. Chan mouths a quick ‘I love you’ to Felix before he turns around and walks out the door hoping it’s not the last time they will see each other.


	4. Chapter 4

Felix woke up to the smell of food. He made his way out of his new room and into the kitchen to see Chan and Woojin making breakfast together. Felix couldn’t help himself from watching them with a smile on his face. They were so disgustingly domestic together and Felix was so happy that his brother had found true love at his age, but he also couldn’t help but to feel a bit of jealousy. He couldn’t wait until he could have a relationship like this. He greeted the two older boys on his way to get some juice out of the refrigerator.   
“Good morning Felix! Hope you are hungry because we made probably more food than we need,” Woojin laughed as he placed the last of the food on the dining room table.   
“Oh I definitely am hyung thank you all for making breakfast!” Felix was so grateful for how welcoming Woojin was towards him. They all sat down at the table and somehow managed to eat all the food, but of course it was mostly Chan. It was good to see that Chan hadn’t changed much, and still had as big of an appetite as he did before.   
“So we were thinking that maybe we could show you around a bit today Felix, does that sound okay?”   
“That sounds great Channie hyung!” They cleared the table bringing all the dirty dishes into the kitchen and Woojin offered to clean up while Chan and Felix got ready.   
Felix walked back into his new bedroom and looked at his luggage. He knew he had to unpack eventually, but he decided to save it for later. He pulled some clean clothes out and changed. He looked at himself in the mirror happy with his outfit choice. He heard a knock on his door, “come in!”  
Chan opened the door and walked over and sat on Felix’s bed and pat the spot next to him indicating he wanted Felix to sit next to him. Felix walked over and sat down looking at Chan questioningly. “I wanted to talk before we go out.” Felix noticed his tone of voice being quite different than the lighthearted one he held during the conversations over breakfast.   
“What’s up hyung?”   
“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it but.. Felix you need to tell me what happened.”  
“Oh..”  
“Look it’s not healthy to keep it all in and whatever it was, was obviously big enough to make you come all the way here to Korea. I’m just worried okay?”  
Felix let’s out a deep breath. He knew this conversation was going to have to happen sooner or later, but he didn’t think it was going to be this soon. “They found out I’m gay,” was all he could get out before he started crying.   
“Oh Felix..” Chan was heartbroken to see his brother had to go through the same thing he had to go through just a year before. “I’m so so sorry. I hate them so much for putting you through this..” he hugged his younger brother and let him cry on his shoulder. He wanted to know everything that had happened and what all his parents had put Felix through, but he decided that it was probably better to save that for another day. “It’s going to be okay. You are here now and I’m going to take care of you, and Woojin is going to too okay? We love you so much.”  
“I love you too,” Felix managed through his quiet sobs. Chan pulled back from him and started wiping his tears away.   
“Now let’s get you cleaned up and show you your new city. You really are going to love it Felix I promise.” Felix smiled up at his brother and nodded in agreement. He really couldn’t wait to see the city. “Woojin and I decided not to completely overwhelm you with all of our friends because they can be a lot to handle honestly so we just invited Woojin’s brother to join us today sound good?”  
“Sounds great,” Felix was grateful because he wasn’t so sure he could do a big group of people on his first day in a new city.   
“Good! His name is Seungmin and he’s your age,” Felix let’s out a sigh of relief. This means if he and this Seungmin get along then he will have a friend at his new school. They made their way to the living room where Woojin and a boy around Felix’s age were sitting. “Ah looks like he’s already here! Felix this is Seungmin, Seungmin this is my brother Felix!”  
“Hi Felix it’s nice to meet you!” Seungmin greets the boy and Felix immediately feels like they are going to be good friends. Seungmin seems really friendly and just as welcoming as his older brother.   
“Hello Seungmin nice to meet you too,” Felix says with a big smile on his face. He hasn’t even been in Korea for a full day and he is already so happy here.


	5. Chapter 5

The first stop on the first day of showing Felix around was apparently the cafe that Woojin worked in. Woojin was excited to show the younger where he spent a lot of his time, even though it was a job he wouldn’t be doing for the rest of his life he was still happy with it. They walked towards their destination, as it was only a ten minute walk and the weather was beautiful. “I’m excited to introduce you to Minho! He’s one of my coworkers and we went to school with him and Seungmin still goes to school with him. I think he’s suppose to work today.” Woojin rambled on about this Minho person for a few more minutes, and Felix started to get excited. He had already just met Seungmin and felt like they were going to be good friends, so he couldn’t wait to meet another person that was so close to Woojin and Chan.  
They finally reached the cafe, and Felix heard a little ding as they opened the door. The cafe was super cozy feeling, as cafes should be, and immediately Felix knew he would want to spend a lot of time in a place like this. They walked towards the counter, and behind it was a boy around a year older than him with brown hair and a huge smile on his face. “Hey Woojin hyung, Chan hyung, Minnie!” The boy greeted them once they stepped up to the counter to order. “Chan hyung is this your brother?”   
“Hello my name is Felix, nice to meet you Minho-ssi!” Felix answered for his brother, then blushed at how forward he was. He was just so excited to make new friends that he couldn’t help it.   
“No no! Call me hyung please,” Minho giggled at Felix’s red cheeks. “You are Chan’s family which means you are automatically family to me.”  
“Okay nice to meet you hyung!”  
“Now let me get you all some drinks! I’m assuming the regular for you all, but what would you like Felix?” Felix told him his order and Woojin paid for everyone, taking advantage of his employee discount. They sat down in a booth not too far from the counter so that they could converse with Minho whenever he had a free second. Felix started feeling a warmth in his heart that he hadn’t felt in so long. He had is brother by his side again, and 3 new friends with hopefully more to be made soon.  
He looked over catching Chan, who was sitting across from him next to Woojin, looking at him. He gave him a puzzled look to receive the answer, “it’s nice to see you this happy Lixie.”   
“It feels good to be this happy hyung,” and he truly meant it, of course not all of his worries and anxieties just disappeared, but he was happy for the first time in years. He was away from his parents, away from his not so great life in Australia, and surrounded with people who cared for him.


	6. Chapter 6

After a day filled with a non stop tour of Korea the four boys find themselves back at Woojin and Chan, and now Felix’s, apartment. Felix and Seungmin spent the whole day getting to know each other, and even though they did not have a bunch in common, found themselves becoming friends rather easily. Within the span of several hours Felix could easily say he was closer to Seungmin than he was to most of his ‘friends’ back in Australia. They exchanged numbers before Seungmin decided it was best to go home for the night.  
“Channie hyung can we talk in my room for a moment?” Felix looks expectantly at the older boy, and when he receives a nod in response they walk into the younger’s room.  
“What’s on your mind mate?”  
“I know this morning it seemed like I didn’t want to talk about it, but I think I need to tell you everything that happened with mom and dad,” Felix sat down on his bed and motioned for Chan to do the same. After the older boy did he continued, “it all happened when I met Lucas.”

—

Felix had never been in a relationship before, well that was until he met a boy named Lucas. Lucas was the new kid during Felix’s sophomore year of high school. He was from China and spoke broken English, but instantly Felix fell for him. Felix was asked to show Lucas around on the first day of the school year and they quickly became friends. Felix was one of the few people at their school that was patient enough to speak with Lucas, and Lucas was so grateful for that, never forgetting to say as much to Felix. They spent almost every day after school together studying and hanging out.  
Felix had never once considered what his sexually was. He somewhat knew that he wasn’t as attracted to girls as most guys his age are, but after everything that happened with Chan and their parents just months prior, Felix was scared to admit to himself that he perhaps was gay too.  
After about 3 months of friendship Lucas came out to Felix one day on their walk home from school, they lived in the same neighborhood so they walked with each other everyday. Felix could tell Lucas was scared, the boy looked close to tears, and he knew that Lucas probably thought he was going to end their friendship.  
“I’m gay too,” Felix whispered. It felt so weird to say out loud. He had never said those words before, and he could feel himself start to cry. It was getting hard to breathe, was he having a panic attack? He had never had one before.  
“Felix no don’t cry, you have no reason to cry! I’m so glad you told me, and I’m so glad I told you,” Felix could feel Lucas’s arms wrap around him tightly. He felt so safe. “Felix I like you, as in more than a friend. I think I have since the first day I met you.”  
Felix started crying harder, “I like you too Lucas.” Lucas pulled away from their hug to look Felix in the eye. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he was ecstatic. He wiped the tears off of Felix’s face, and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.  
“Will you be my boyfriend Felix?” Felix pulled Lucas back into the hug and Lucas heard a muffled yes against his chest. Both boys couldn’t stop smiling as they held onto each other so tight worried that if they let go what they had just started might slip away.  
Of course they had to keep their relationship a secret considering neither boy was out to their family or any of their friends. It wasn’t hard to keep it a secret though, they had formed such a strong friendship that no one questioned the boys spending so much time together. They had to keep the PDA to a minimum when they weren’t alone, but overall their secret relationship wasn’t too much of a burden.  
One day after about 5 months of dating Felix invited Lucas over to study at his house after school. Normally Felix’s parents wouldn’t come home from work until a couple hours after they got out of school, so it was a good opportunity for them to spend time together as more of boyfriends. They spent those short 2 hours cuddling and kissing and giggling with each other, hearts filled with so much love for one another. On this specific day though, Felix’s mother got off work early, and when she opened the door to see her youngest son kissing another boy she screamed. Immediately Felix and Lucas flew apart scared from the loud outburst. Felix was frozen, he had no idea what to do or say.  
“Out! I want you out of my house do you hear me!” Felix’s mother close to tears screams at the other boy in the room. Without a word Lucas runs out of the room not looking in Felix’s direction. “And you! Just wait until your father comes home!” To say Felix was terrified would have been an understatement. After witnessing what Chan went through with their parents, Felix knew how his father was going to react.  
It was actually worse for Felix than it had been for Chan. Felix had never seen his father so pissed. “Not just one of my sons, but both of them! Both of them disgusting fags!” His father slapped him. “No I won’t have it! You will never speak to that boy again, do you hear me?! I didn’t raise you to be like this!”  
Felix’s hand found its way up to the spot his father slapped him. He rubbed it, and just stood there not knowing how to process what just happened. His father just hit him, something the man had never done before. His father stormed off into his office slamming the door behind him, leaving Felix crying in the middle of his living room. His parents hated him, hell he hated himself.  
The next day he broke up with Lucas. He could see how much it hurt the other boy, but he just couldn’t do it. He didn’t want his father to hit him again.  
Somehow word got out to the rest of their school that Felix was gay. All of his so called friends turned on him, calling him names and shoving him into lockers. He was so alone, the loneliest he had ever been in his life. His depression started creeping in. His whole life was spiraling out of control, and some days he just wanted to end it all.  
Then he thought of Chan. He missed his older brother so much. He wanted so badly to be with him and away from here. Then it dawned on him, sure he was a minor, but it’s not like his parents even wanted him here in the first place, so he called Chan. As always Chan saved the day. Chan was always Felix’s superhero. 

—

Felix looked up at Chan for the first time since he started telling him everything that had happened. He could see the anger in his face. “He- he hit you? Felix I am so sorry he did that oh my god. Are you okay? Wait dumb question of course you aren’t okay oh my god,” Chan kept rambling on and on. He was going through so many emotions right now. Anger at his father for doing such a horrible thing to one of the most precious people in his life. Sadness hearing how much Felix struggled and how far his depression had gotten. Disappointment in himself for leaving Felix in such a toxic environment. Gratefulness towards Lucas because even though he was just a passing ship in Felix’s love life he could tell just how much the boy meant to his little brother.  
They fell asleep in Felix’s bed together cuddled up with one another after hours of talking through everything. Both boys cried more than they had in a long time, but for once Felix had someone to comfort him as he was going through these emotions.


	7. Chapter 7

Before he knew it the summer had ended and it was almost time for Felix to start his Junior year of high school. He couldn’t help but think back over the past summer and smile because of all the amazing memories he would always have of the best summer of his life.   
Around a week after he arrived in Korea, Felix was finally introduced to the last two boys of Chan’s friend group, Jisung and Hyunjin. Jisung was Minho’s boyfriend, and only a day older than Felix. Jisung quickly became Felix’s best friend. Hyunjin was also Felix’s age just slightly older and Seungmin swore up and down he totally did not have a crush on the boy, but the blush that crept up on his face after saying it led Felix to believe otherwise.   
The friend group had been together for 2 years, and they told Felix about how they all met. Of course Chan and Woojin were classmates that started dating their senior year. Seungmin being Woojin’s brother brought him to the group, and Hyunjin and Seungmin had been friends for practically their whole lives so he hung around quite often not that the older boys minded. Minho started working at the cafe with Woojin his sophomore year of high school, Woojin’s senior year, and was on the school dance team with Hyunjin so eventually he found his way into the group about mid year. Lastly Jisung joined the same year as Minho because Chan was the teachers assistant in Jisung’s music class and Jisung was one of the only freshman who was passionate about class. Chan took Jisung under his wing and through the next 2 years they started working on their own music together. A year later is when jisung and Minho started dating, so about 6 months before Felix met the group. Even though they had all been friend with each other for 2 years already they were so welcoming to Felix and he had never felt so close to a group of people. They truly became his family in as short as 3 months. 

—

Felix woke up to Chan shaking him saying, “Lixie you gotta get up!” Felix was confused for a few moments because usually Chan let him sleep in or wake up to an alarm he had set, but then he remembered. Today was Felix’s first day of school. He jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom to start getting ready. He could hear Chan giggling at his eagerness. It took him about 30 minutes to get ready because he had no idea what to wear. He wanted to make a good first impression at his new school. Finally he pulled an outfit together and walking to the kitchen. He was greeted with the smell of breakfast and Chan and Woojin getting the table set. “Aw Lixie you look great! Also don’t expect this every morning because we are usually too busy to make breakfast, but I wanted to do something special for your first day.”  
“Thank you Channie hyung!” They ate quickly and soon there was a knock on the door. Felix opened the door to reveal a sleepy Jisung. “Let me just get my shoes on!” Felix got them on as quick as possible, said his goodbyes to Chan and Woojin, and grabbed his bag on his way out.   
Jisung lived just a couple minutes away, so Minho being the great friend he was offered to pick up Felix after grabbing his boyfriend. Felix got in the back seat, Jisung of course getting the passenger seat, boyfriend privileges Felix guesses.   
“Okay we still need to pick up Jinnie and Minnie, they are also on the way so don’t worry we won’t be late,” Minho filled Felix in. Apparently seungmin and Hyunjin were next door neighbors, so makes sense that they had been friends since they were in diapers. “Also dance team try outs will be a couple weeks into the beginning of school, I can totally prepare you for them, but I’ve seen you dance there is no way you won’t make the team.” Felix loved how encouraging Minho was about his dancing. It didn’t take long for Minho and Hyunjin to start talking about their dance team at school when Felix first met them all, and he showed interest right away. The older boys were thrilled to learn they had another dancer in their friend group. Felix was so excited to try out for the team because dancing had always been a passion of his, but his parents didn’t support it.   
Once the boys reached the school Minho went to find his senior friends to see who he shared classes with and the rest of the boys went with Felix to go to the main office to get his locker and schedule.   
“Hello my name is Lee Felix I’m new to this school and I was wanting to get my schedule,” he smiled at the receptionist and she smiled back looking through her papers and finally handing Felix everything he needed.   
“I was going to assign you a guide, but it looks like you have already made friends, would you prefer they show you around?”  
After asking his friends if they didn’t mind and them saying of course they would show him around, he said a quick “yes please” to the lady behind the desk. They helped him find his locker, and all went over their schedules together. Thankfully Felix had at least one of his friends in every class except for one, and that was okay he could survive one class period alone.   
When the warning bell rang announcing classes would start soon Jisung and Felix parted ways with Hyunjin and Seungmin to go to their first class, which they shared. Felix wasn’t exactly ecstatic that math was his first class of the day letting out a groan as they entered the room. 

—

The day had been a bit of a blur and Felix finally made it to his last class of the day. It was the one class he did not share with his friends, but Hyunjin helped him find it because his class was nearby. It was a writing class that Felix had decided to take as an elective to help better his Korean. As with every class of the day he walked over and greeted the teacher. Once the bell rang the teacher announced to the class, “Welcome everyone to the first day of school, we have a new student this year! Everyone meet Felix, he is a transfer student from Australia, try to make him feel welcome.” A chorus of hello’s could be heard in the class, and the teacher asked him to take a seat. The only one open was in the last row, the second seat from the window.   
On his left sat a boy in all black with his head on his desk. Not even 5 minutes into the class and someone was already asleep Felix couldn’t believe it. About halfway through class the boy woke up lifting his head and letting Felix get a good look at him. Felix’s breath hitched, he was the most beautiful boy Felix had ever seen, granted he also looked very intimidating, but beautiful nonetheless. Said boy looked over at Felix and gave him a weird look, probably because Felix was staring at him with his mouth wide open. Felix blushed and looked back to the front of the room trying to focus on what the teacher is saying to distract himself. He could feel the other boy glaring at him, but he didn’t dare look back over.   
Once the bell rang he ran out of class so that the boy couldn’t confront him. First day of school and Felix had already made a possible enemy with a gorgeous boy. Felix groaned to himself as he made his way to meet his friends at the front of the school.   
His friends greeted him as the started walking towards Minho’s car. Then Felix sees him again, thankfully he didn’t seem to notice Felix. “Hey guys who is he?” He asked his friends pointing to the boy who was out of earshot.   
“Who? Changbin?” Minho said with his eyebrows furrowed together.   
“Oh no no no Felix no!”  
“What do you mean no Jisung?”  
“No Felix do not tell me you have the hots for the schools resident bad boy!”  
“I do not have the hots!” Felix could feel the blush start to spread on his face giving him away.   
“Oh my god I can’t believe this Felix, he so doesn’t seem like your type.”  
“What do you mean by school’s resident bad boy though?”  
This time Minho spoke up, “He is always late to school, sleeps during class, and I don’t think he’s ever had a friend while going to school here.”  
“Okay.. but how does that make him a ‘bad boy’ I mean lots of people are late and sleep during class.”  
“I don’t know for sure, but there are lots of rumors about him. No one knows for sure what is true, but I would suggest you just stay away it’s for the best Lix.” Felix took one last look at Changbin before getting into Minho’s car.


	8. Chapter 8

Seeing as it was only their first day back at school meaning that the boys had no homework to complete they decided instead of just dropping Felix off at Chan and Woojin’s apartment that they would all stay and hang out. Once the boy got to their destination and walked through the door most of them threw their bags by the door and made themselves comfortable, Jisung turning on the tv to find something for the now bored boys to watch. Chan made his way out of his bedroom looking over all of the younger boys in his living room before saying, “oh yeah just make yourselves at home guys no problem.” Of course everyone knew the older was just joking around because he honestly wouldn’t have it any other way than for all of his best friends and brother in one room hanging out together. He could hear Felix giggling at his fake annoyance causing him to just smile and ask if anyone wanted something to drink. After a couple minutes he returned with a couple sodas for the boys he heard say yes and sat down next to Felix on one of the couches.  
“Oh Channie-hyung guess what!”  
“What is it Sungie?” Chan had no idea what could get Jisung this excited because when does something exciting ever happen on the first day of school.  
“Our little Felix here already has a crush on someone!”  
“JISUNG!” A pillow goes flying in Jisung’s direction causing most of the boys in the room to start laughing. “Chan-hyung don’t listen to him, he’s lying!”  
“Me? LIE? Never! I would never,” Jisung throws his hand against his chest in offense, “I can’t believe you would accuse me of such a thing!” This causes more laughter from the boys because of course Jisung had to make everything more dramatic than it needs to be.  
“Aw come on Lix a crush is nothing to be ashamed of! Who’s the lucky guy?” Chan looks over at his brother to see him blushing. Whoever this guy was really got him flustered and Chan found it super adorable.  
“Oh that’s the thing hyung you won’t believe who it is!” Chan looks back to Jisung with an eyebrow raised.  
“Someone tell me who it is! I feel left out here,” he looks back and forth between Felix and Jisung. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Felix isn’t going to tell him, though he can’t figure out why.  
“It is none other than THE Seo Changbin!” Jisung cant even finish saying his name before laughing, especially after seeing Chan’s eyes widen.  
“Really Felix? Changbin of all people?”  
“Listen! He’s in my last class and I sit next to him I just thought he was cute okay! I didn’t know you all would flip out about it, or else I wouldn’t have said anything.” Felix started to pout at his brother, “It doesn’t matter anyways he caught me staring at him in class and so now he’s probably going to murder me.”  
“Oh wait that’s gold! You didn’t tell me that earlier!” Jisung was living for this drama, “did he say or do anything?”  
“No, but he looked at me weirdly. It probably didn’t help that my jaw was basically dropped to the floor, but come on you all can’t tell me he isn’t beautiful! He’s probably the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen in my life..” Felix says dreamily and then is brought back down to earth by Minho’s snickering which cause the younger boy to glare at him.  
“Felix I don’t care how pretty you find him, please stay away okay? Obviously what everyone knows about Changbin are just rumors, but I just want to be sure you are safe so promise me you won’t try to get close to him.” Chan’s brotherly instincts were kicking in, he did not want anyone messing with his baby brother.  
“Okay hyung I will stay away.” But that doesn’t mean I can’t still admire from a distance Felix thought to himself. He didn’t understand everyone’s problem with the mysterious boy but he hasn’t even heard any of the supposed rumors either so they could have a reason to be scared of the boy. Either way he found him intriguing and he wanted to know more about the boy.

—

The second day was more or less the same as the first maybe with a tad more learning in class because introductions were over. Felix still not having to worry about finding his way through the rather larger school since he had his friends helping him throughout the day. He finds his way to the last class of the day by himself though and without much trouble which he is grateful for. He is a couple minutes early, but decides to go ahead in and sit down. Lucky for him Changbin is already here too, but his face in buried in his arms. He’s sleeping again and class hasn’t even started this time. Felix thinks it’s cute though. He finds himself glancing over at the older boy, he had found out that Changbin was a senior like Minho, every few seconds. Honestly he can’t take his eyes off of him, even when he can’t see his face he finds the boy so interesting.  
Suddenly without warning Changbin lifts his head up and looks over directly at Felix. He doesn’t glare like yesterday, but he still has the frown on his face. He quirks an eyebrow at the younger boy and Felix looks away feeling his face grow hot. Damn he’s been caught staring twice in 2 days. Way to go Felix could you be more obvious...Thankfully the teacher walks in to the room and starts the lesson for the day before the older boy can say anything to Felix, if he was even going to which Felix isn’t sure he would have.  
He decides to take one last look at the boy on his left before trying to solely focus on the teacher, and is met with the boy still looking at him, but this time with more intrigue than annoyance. Felix looks away again, but he can feel the other boy still staring at him. This was going to be a long class period.


	9. Chapter 9

A few weeks have gone by, and Felix is pretty confident in saying that he is really enjoying his new life in Korea. He had kept to his word with Chan about staying away from Changbin, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still just as intrigued about the boy as before. Over the weeks he had been there he started hearing about the rumors of Changbin. Some claiming he was a drug dealer staying out all hours of the night and that’s why he was always asleep in class. A few people chimed in saying he was a part of a gang. Others saying he was bullying a poor Sophomore, Felix couldn’t remember the name of the boy, but apparently he is the only boy that people have ever seen Changbin speak to and it was always in secluded areas of the school. Felix heard one person talk about Changbin having a criminal record. Felix doesn’t believe any of these rumors though because he knows what it’s like to have a whole school talk about you and spread false statements. There was no proof that Changbin was a bad person, and Felix did like to believe the best in others. All of this is probably why Felix became even more invested in Changbin, he wanted to know who he truly was, not what everyone believed him to be.   
In his third week of classes he auditioned for the school dance team after many afternoons spent dancing with Hyunjin and Minho to prepare him. Today was the day he was finally going to find out if he made the cut. He felt pretty confident in his performance, but a lot of people had tried out, so he couldn’t help but feel nervous.   
The list had been posted right before lunch started on the school bulletin board, so Minho met Hyunjin and Felix outside the younger boy’s history class, so that they could walk together. He could sense that they were nervous as well, even though they had been on the team in previous years spots are not always guaranteed. As they read over the list of names all three let out cheers after seeing their names. The boys hugged each other in excitement.   
“Holy shit.. Minho you’re team captain!” Hyunjin squealed, he was so proud of his friend, and knew better than anyone else that the boy deserved it.   
“Is this real life? Imagine how good this is going to look on my university application!” As captain, Minho would be helping create the choreographies and leading the team, which for someone who plans to go to art school for dancing next year was really good experience for him.   
They walked to lunch with smiles plastered on their faces. When Seungmin and Jisung saw them they instantly knew they all made it from the looks on their faces and they ran over to congratulate them.   
“Sungie you are now the boyfriend of the dance teams captain,” Felix giggled as he told his newfound best friend the news.   
“Really?! Hyung that’s amazing, I’m so proud of you!” He kisses his boyfriend on the cheek causing Minho to blush, a sight not often seen considering how confident the elder normally is, but when it comes to his boyfriend complimenting him he can’t help but become soft.   
The rest of the day went by in a blur and finally Felix was sitting in his seat for his last class of the day. Changbin already asleep at his desk like normal, but Felix didn’t really pay him much attention. He was still smiling from the knowledge he made the team. He couldn’t wait to tell Chan! He knew his older brother would be so excited for him and he wanted to tell him in person so he decided not to text him earlier that day. Only 1 hour left of school and he could rush to tell his brother.   
“Alright class time to get started on today’s lesson!” The teachers voice brought Felix’s attention to the front of the room as he paused his thoughts. “So, we are now a month into classes and I think it’s an appropriate time for our first project of the semester!” The teachers enthusiasm is met with groans from most of the students. Felix isn’t one of them, he wouldn’t say he is a studious person necessarily, but he doesn’t mind school work and projects aren’t always as bad as other students make them out to be. “Now, now that’s not the spirit I was hoping for! Will it help for you all to know it’s a group project?” No one responded, but at least there were no more objections so the teacher continued, “I am assigning the partners though, you are going to work with the person next to you.” Felix’s breath hitched, that means-  
He looks to his left and his eyes meet Changbin who was now not sleeping anymore, but instead looking very much awake and wary of these new arrangements.   
“You are going to look at a famous piece of literature of your choosing, it can be an excerpt from a play, a poem, or book. Of course I will have to approve of it, but once chosen you will write a paper summarizing the piece of work and then putting in your own words the meaning behind it and types of literary devices used! The rest of this class period will be used for you all to decide on what piece of literature you will use and making plans to meet up and work on it. We will not be using any other class time on this project, so it is all up to how you use your free time to complete it.” Once she finished explaining, she went at sat down at her desk, and immediately chattered filled the classroom as people started discussing their projects.   
Felix looks back at Changbin, who doesn’t seem like he’s going to start up a conversation, so he musters up all the courage he can, “I don’t think we have officially met, I’m Felix nice to meet you!” He smiles at the older boy and extends his hand. He can see a few people look at him like he’s crazy, probably because no one in their right mind we outright talk to the school bad boy.   
Changbin looks down at Felix’s hand, but doesn’t shake it, instead just nodding in acknowledgement, “Changbin.” Was all that the boy said and Felix tried his hardest not to be to effected by the boys voice. It was harsh, but also somehow attractive.   
“So what do you think we should do for our project?” Felix really hoped for his grades sake that even though Changbin seemed like someone who didn’t care about his grades he would not be the type of person to not do his share of the work.   
“Whatever man I don’t really care,” Felix rolls his eyes of course he doesn’t. “You got a problem?” Changbin snaps at him causing Felix to jump.  
“No.. no problem,” he pauses, “well actually yeah one problem, look you might not care about your grade, but I care about mine especially since this is my first year at this school and I don’t want to fall behind, so I guess just tell me now if I’m going to be doing this whole thing by myself.”  
“Did I ever give you any indication that I would do the work? Don’t act like you know me.”  
“You’re right I’m sorry..” Felix’s voice trails off, the first conversation with the hot guy is so not going well. He internally face palms. “Okay lets start over. Is there anything you are interested in writing about? I don’t really know that many Korean books or poems because I just moved here.”  
“I’m fine with doing an English one if you want, I’m sure that would be easier for you. We can always look up Korean translations so I can follow along.” Felix’s smile returned to his face, this so called bad boy was willing to do something that would make it harder for him so that Felix would be more comfortable?   
“Are you sure? That might be a lot more work.”  
“Yeah it’s not that big of a deal,” Changbin shrugged like it was nothing, but to Felix it was everything.   
“Thank you! That’s so nice of you!”  
Changbin’s eyes widened, he doesn’t think anyone from school has ever said something like that to him. He quickly caught himself from getting too worked up about it before saying, “I don’t know a lot of English literature, but there is one poem I remember reading when I was younger, or a translation of it of course, called ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost. Do you know that one?”  
“Of course! That’s one of my favorites!” Felix then blushed because of how nerdy that made him sound, quickly averting his eyes because he didn’t want to see the judgement from Changbin. What he missed was Changbins lips curling up into a smile. After asking the teacher if the poem was okay to use, they sat down to discuss meeting times and places.   
“I’m busy most nights but I think I should be free after school on Friday until 7 or 8,” Changbin offered.   
“Okay yeah that sounds good, where did you want to meet?”  
“Your place cool? I’d rather not go to mine.”  
“Umm..” Felix didn’t know what to say, he would love to invite Changbin over, but what would Chan say.   
Changbin noticing Felix’s hesitation says, “or not? Maybe a library or cafe?”  
“I’m not opposed to you coming over or anything!” Felix quickly states not wanting Changbin to think that, “I would just have to see if it’s okay with my brother..”  
“Brother? Not parents?” Changbin quirks an eyebrow at Felix.  
“Um, no it’s just my brother and I, and his boyfriend,” Felix pauses to get Changbins reaction to the word boyfriend, after not seeming fazed by it, he continues, “you may know them, Chan and Woojin?”  
“Yeah I remember them,” is all Changbin offers.   
“Well how about I get your number, and I can text you what Chan says about you coming over.” After a slight hesitation Changbin grabs Felix’s phone out of the younger hands and types his number in simply saving it as ‘Changbin’. “Aw come on that’s just boring, no emojis or anything?” Changbin rolls his eyes at the younger. He feels a buzz in his pocket and pulls out his phone to reveal a text from Felix. “Just so you have it,” Felix offers as an explanation.   
“Well since mine is ‘just boring’ as you phrased it, do you want to name yourself in my phone?” Felix grabs Changbin’s phone excitedly, types for a moment, and then returns the phone. The older boy looks down at his phone to see the number saved under ‘Lixie✨’ and he can’t help but chuckle at how fitting the cute nickname was for the cute boy.   
A few minutes later and the bell rang signifying the end of class “See you later Changbin hyung!” The honorific causing the older boy to stop in his tracks to look at the boy. Felix realizing what he said continues, “Oh god sorry, is it okay to call you that? Or is it too soon? I’m not too used to Korean culture yet!”   
“No, it’s okay you can call me that if you want, it just caught me off guard is all,” hardly anyone had called Changbin that in his life, but he really liked knowing Felix was already comfortable enough to say that after just speaking for the first time today.   
“Alright cool!” Felix beamed down at the boy, who Felix just now realized was shorter than him after they stood up. Changbin’s heart skipped a beat at the smile the younger boy shown. He excused himself from the boy before heading out of the classroom to his locker.   
Felix left shortly after, meeting up with his friends on the way out to Minho’s car. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face the whole way home, he had just successfully managed to befriend the boy who had been a mystery to him, and the entire school for that matter. Now all that was left to do was convince Chan to let said boy come over to the apartment to work on the project. Which, Felix knew, was going to be easier said than done.


	10. Chapter 10

After Minho dropped him off at the apartment, Felix quickly got changed into more comfortable clothing before walking to the music store a block away. In the few months he had lived in Korea it had become one of his favorite places to spend time, mostly because it’s where Chan works. When Chan tells most people that music is his life he isn’t lying. Not only is he a music major, specializing in music production, but he also works at the music store most nights of the week. He practically runs the store because the owner is never there, so Felix spends a lot of time there just keeping Chan company as he does his school work.   
Felix hears the chime of the bell as he walks through the door and is immediately greeted by Chan who is sitting behind the register. There are no customers in the store so Felix runs over tackling his brother. “GUESS WHAT HYUNG!!”  
“Did you make the dance team??”  
“Yes!! Hyung I’m so happy I can’t believe it!”  
“I’m so proud of you Lix, I knew you could do it!” Chan grabs Felix into a hug, a huge smile on his face. All he wants is for the younger boy to be happy. “When do practices start?”  
“Next week! We are going to have them 3 times a week, but don’t worry I won’t let it impact my studies!” Chan has never seen the smile on Felix’s face look so bright.   
“I know you won’t Lix!” The bell chimes again meaning a customer as walked in, so Felix sits down behind the desk to start on his homework letting Chan get back to doing his job.   
After about an hour of customers constantly coming and going, the store is quiet again. Felix finished 2 of his assignments and decides to take a break and look through some of the albums in the store. He’s racking his brain thinking of a way to ask Chan to let Changbin come over to work on the writing project. He knows his brothers thoughts about the mysterious boy, so he is scared to ask.   
“Umm hyung?”  
“Yeah bud?”  
“So we have this project in my writing class we have to work on in pairs, and my partner said that we can’t meet at his house, so could he come over on Friday after school to work on it?”   
“Of course Lix! You can always invite people over, just let me know ahead of time. So who is it? Maybe I know them!”  
“Well that’s the thing..” Felix pauses looking up at Chan, “it’s uh.. it’s Changbin.”  
“Oh..” instantly Chan’s mood changed.   
“If you don’t want him coming over I can always meet him at the library or a cafe!”  
“No! No I don’t want you alone with him, at least at the apartment Woojin or I will be there.”   
“You know Channie, he’s really not as bad as people make him out to be! He’s actually nice, when he realized that I’m still struggling with Korean he told me we could do our project on an English poem!”  
“Yeah probably so you would do most of the work!”  
“No hyung he really doesn’t seem like that type of person, he even picked the poem!”   
“Just be careful okay? Do the project and be done, don’t forget you promised to stay away from him!” Felix could tell that Chan’s mind was made up about Changbin for now, but he was going to do whatever it took to change his mind when Changbin comes over to work on the project.


	11. Chapter 11

Changbin left school that day not knowing how to feel. None of his classmates had ever treated him like Felix had. To them he was the outcast, the so-called ‘bad boy’ that no one wanted anything to do with. It didn’t help that Changbin never tried to change their minds, but to him it wasn’t worth it. High school was just 4 years of his life, he wouldn’t ever see these people again. They weren’t worth his time if they didn’t see him as worth their time.   
The truth was that none of the rumors about him were true at all. Bullying? He detests it, and would never think of doing such a thing. Drugs? He had never touched the stuff. Gangs? Changbin was way too soft for something like that. Criminal record? Hell no. He didn’t stop the rumors though, in a way he didn’t mind because he didn’t want to worry about attachments to others when he had too much to worry about as it is. He didn’t have the time to maintain relationships of any kind. But then Felix came into the picture with his stupid beautiful freckles and smile that made Changbin want to combust. Changbin can easily say he’s never felt this way before, and that scares him.   
If you wanted to know the whole truth about Changbin well that’s a long and sad story, one he doesn’t share with anyone. It all started the summer before high school when his parents died in a car accident. After that night everything changed. At the age of 14 Changbin had to grow up fast because there was no way in hell that he was going into foster care, and he definitely wasn’t going to let his 12 year old brother be separated from him. Jeongin was the only family he had left and he loved him more than anything in this world. He would do anything to protect him and provide for him. They ran away together to Seoul, with practically no money and just 2 backpacks filled with as many of their belongings they could carry. They had spent 2 nights on the streets when a women, named Jimin, found them. Changbin begged and pleaded with her not to call the police. She took pity on them and told them to follow her. Turns out she was the owner of an apartment complex a few blocks down.   
“I have a vacant apartment you can stay in the meantime, but honey I can’t let you stay for long okay? Once it’s rented out I’ll have to ask you to leave because I’m barely making enough money to keep this place running.” He thanked her profusely.   
Changbin had decided what he had to do. He knew that at a young age not many places would be hiring, but he’ll be damned if he didn’t try. Jeongin deserved better than the alley they had to stay in for those 2 nights. So, the very next morning he told Jeongin to sleep in and that he would be back. After hours of being turned down, he found his way to a bookstore. Once he entered he fell in love. He had always loved reading even at a young age, he had started reading at a college level in middle school. He quickly made his way to the small checkout counter and looked up at the man behind it.   
“Hello sir, my name is Changbin and I’m looking for a job. I know I’m young, but I promise I’m a very hard worker.” He knew he looked desperate at this point, but he was hoping that would work in his favor.   
“Tell me Changbin, do you like reading?”  
“Oh I love it sir!”  
“How about you come and have a seat with me over there and maybe we can work something out.” And they did after about 30 minutes of talking to the man, he had been hired. Apparently the bookstore was a small business, the only 2 workers being the man and his boyfriend, but as luck would have it just the night before the couple spoke about hiring an extra helping hand with restocking the shelves. In just the short time Changbin felt so comfortable talking to the man, who had introduced himself as Jackson. The man even telling Changbin to call him hyung because if they were going to be working together then that means they should try to be friends. “Oh I can’t wait for you to meet Mark, I think he’s going to love you!” Jackson told him, Changbin immediately assuming that was his boyfriends name. He was so glad to stumble upon this small store with such kind owners.   
Changbin returned to the apartment with a huge smile on his face. He knew that the money he made at the bookstore wouldn’t be enough to cover living expenses, but it was a start. He would save up while the woman let them stay here for free, and figure out the rest later.   
Jimin quickly became like family to Changbin and Jeongin. She was constantly checking up on them, and once she found out Changbin had a job she struck a deal with him. Instead of letting them stay there for free until someone came along that could pay for rent, she would let them rent it out at a discounted price so that they could stay there as long as they wanted without worry of being evicted.   
It was a good deal while it lasted, but it couldn’t last forever. After a year Jimin was pretty close to losing the complex, so Changbin took up another job at a nearby convenience store so that he could pay her more. At first she refused the extra money, telling him that it shouldn’t be his concern, but he wouldn’t let her.   
So now Changbin had 2 jobs and school to worry about. Directly after school he would work a 5 hour shift at the bookstore then after an hour break he would work at the convenience store until 3 in the morning. Luckily his teachers knew his situation and worked with him to make sure he didn’t fall behind in classes, but his classmates had no clue. He was immediately seen as sketchy because he didn’t make friends with anyone. He was always asleep in class and was late almost every morning because he would over sleep.   
Once Jeongin was old enough for high school Changbin decided with would be best for them to not associate with each other at school. He wanted Jeongin to have a normal life and make friends. He knew that if people found out he was the brother of the school loner he might be outcasted as well. Jeongin hated it, but eventually decided to go along with the charade because he knew Changbin wouldn’t leave him alone about it. He also wanted to get a job to help Changbin with the bills, but Changbin refused telling him that school was the most important thing. He wanted the best education for his brother, and he knew he would never be able to pay for college so maybe if Jeongin did well he would get a full ride. Jeongin was the only thing pushing Changbin through. Without his younger brother he doesn’t know where he would be right now, but he knows without a doubt he would do anything to make Jeongin’s life the best that it can be. Even if that means skipping a few meals and not buying himself new clothes. Jeongin came first.


	12. Chapter 12

Just like every other day Changbin made his way to the bookstore after school ended. Luckily their apartment wasn’t far from school so Jeongin walked home everyday without problem, one less thing Changbin had to worry about. Once Changbin arrived he clocked in and immediately started to work grabbing some boxes from the back. He could easily say that this job was his favorite of the two jobs. For one it wasn’t in the middle of the night when he should be sleeping. Also at the convenience store he usually worked alone, which of course gets boring after awhile. At least at the bookstore either Mark or Jackson were always there, so he had someone to talk to. Today it happened to be Jackson, which Changbin liked those days better. Don’t tell Mark though! He has nothing against Mark, he’s just normally quieter and after not talking to a single person at school all day long (at least that’s how it was before Felix) it was nice to have someone hyper and talkative to be around for a few hours. No matter what Jackson’s mood was he was always down to talk to Changbin about anything and everything. He was truly the big brother Changbin never had.   
“Oh hey Changbin I didn’t hear you come in! How was school today?” Jackson had just come out of the back office, as this was not a very busy time of day he would sometimes go back to do paperwork.   
“Actually.. not bad,” Jackson looked up at the younger boy with a smile on his face. He had never gotten that answer before. Jackson always asked about how school was on the days they worked together and Changbin always had the same response: ‘eh it was whatever’.   
“Is that so? Well do tell! What could have possibly made school ‘not bad’ for my dear Changbinnie?”  
“Hyung I told you not to call me that!” Changbin said with a huff. After only receiving a chuckle in response he continued, “umm well there is this new guy.. his name is Felix.”  
Jackson’s eyes widen, “Oh my god! You have a crush don’t you! I thought this day would never happen holy shit. I can’t wait to tell Mark, he so won’t believe me.”  
Changbin’s cheeks turn red, “hyungggg stop it!”  
“Okay okay sorry! Tell me everything!”  
“Well he’s from Australia, so that’s pretty cool I guess. He’s a junior, but this is his first year here. He’s in my writing class, and he sits next to me, but today is the first time we spoke.”  
Jackson cuts him off, “Wait you, Seo Changbin, actually spoke to someone at school, this is unbelievable,” Changbin gives him his signature glare causing Jackson to stop talking again.  
“As I was saying! We were assigned a group project and we have to work together, so yeah I had to speak to him. Thank god you gave me Friday off or I would have had no time to work on it with him! But I don’t know hyung he’s so pretty, and he has these freckles wow, and his voice! Oh my god his voice is so deep and beautiful. And he doesn’t treat me like everyone else in school does. He doesn’t seem to care about my reputation or all the stupid rumors. He even called me hyung! Jeongin is the only person that has ever called me that and I was so caught off guard. Ugh I’ve only talked to him once and I’m already falling for him how the hell?”  
“Bin you’re rambling,” Jackson giggles at the younger boy, remembering how he felt when he first met Mark. “I can tell you really like him though, and the fact that he doesn’t care about how everyone else perceives you is really good! He sounds like a great guy, and hopefully working on this project will help you all get closer.”  
“I want to get closer, but I’m scared. Scared that maybe the people at school will start treating him differently if he hangs around me. Scared that he might think I’m more trouble than it’s worth once he gets to know me.”  
“Bullshit! You aren’t more trouble that it’s worth at all Bin! You are amazing and he would be lucky to have you please don’t put yourself down like that okay?”  
“Okay.. well thanks for listening hyung, but I should probably get back to work.”  
“Of course kid you know I’m always here for you!”

—

After his shift ends Changbin makes his way home. It’s around 8 and he has an hour until his shift at the convenience store. He’s immediately greeted by Jeongin tackling him into a hug. Changbin once asked him why he does that every time he comes home and Jeongin responded with something like ‘to make up for not being able to be around you during school’ and it made Changbin’s heart shatter. His brother truly loves him so much, and he loves him just as much. Just like everyday Changbin goes to make dinner for the pair, Jeongin always waits until Changbin gets off of work to eat so they can do it together. Plus Jeongin isn’t as good of a cook as his older brother.   
“Oh Jeongin?”  
“Yeah hyung?”  
“I know I told you I didn’t work Friday, so we could possibly do something, but I was assigned a group project in school and that’s the only free day I would have to work on it.. hyung is so sorry.” He could see Jeongin’s face fall. He hated disappointing his brother like this. “But! I will still be home earlier than if I was working so we will have a bit more time together!”  
“That’s okay hyung I know it’s for school and like you tell me all the time school is important!” Jeongin quickly puts a smile back on his face. Changbin has always loved that about Jeongin, no matter what he always smiles. “So.. you have to do a group project. How are you feeling about that?”  
“Actually not too bad! It’s the new guy Felix, you heard anything about him?”  
“Oh yeah! He’s friends with Seungmin who’s in choir with me. I’ve never talked to him and I’ve only seen him briefly, but I’ve heard Seungmin talk about him a lot. I think his brother is dating Felix’s brother?”  
“Oh yeah Woojin and Chan, yeah they are dating. Felix told me about that.”  
“Oh wait you’ve actually talked to him? You?”  
“Yah! Why is everyone having this reaction today, you and Jackson hyung both!”  
“Well come on its you hyung, you don’t talk to people!”  
“Shut up! Or you don’t get dinner!”  
“You wouldn’t dare!”  
“Try me!”  
“Okay okay I’m sorry hyung,” of course Changbin had just been messing with his brother, they always joke around like this. 

—

Changbin was so dreading today. He had gotten off work at the convenience store much later than normal because the girl who took over after him was late. So of course he was late to school, which isn’t anything new. The day seemed to drag on longer than normal, but finally it was time for the last class of the day. Changbin immediately laying his head down on the desk once he was in his seat. He had a few minutes before class, and he was going to take every opportunity to sleep even if just for a minute.   
It didn’t last very long though because a loud “Changbin hyung!” could be heard from the other side of the classroom. He instantly whipped his head up to be met with Felix skipping over to back corner of the room. Changbin couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face as the younger boy sat down next to him. Changbin looked around the room quickly noting the shocked faces. When Felix had introduced himself to Changbin easily the day before of course they got some weird glances, but it was nothing compared to right now. The other students who were early for class stared at them with their mouths dropped. Changbin doesn’t know why but it makes him chuckle. He could possibly have some fun with this.  
“Hey Lix!” He greeted the younger with a smirk. Yeah that definitely made the rest of the students even more shocked. And he definitely didn’t miss Felix’s smile widen and his ears start to turn red at this nickname.   
“So I talked to Chan hyung and he says it’s okay if you come over tomorrow to work on the project!”  
“Okay cool, do you just want to ride with me to your place?”  
“Oh.. yeah sure that should be okay.”   
Changbin caught some hesitance from Felix, “are you sure, it doesn’t sound like you are completely okay with it? I don’t mind if you want to ride with your friends like normal.”  
“No no! It’s not that I don’t want to it’s.. Chan to be honest he isn’t 100% sure about you,” Felix pauses to gauge his reaction, but Changbin is used to people being uncertain of him.   
“Of course yeah I totally get that it’s fine I’ll just meet you there just give me the address.”  
“No you know what it’s fine. He can get over it hyung we can ride together.” Changbin could tell that it wasn’t really fine, but if it’s what Felix wanted he would go with it. How could he say no to Felix anyways it’s pretty much impossible. God he’s already so whipped for the younger boy.


	13. Chapter 13

As Felix walks out of the front doors of the school he is met with Jisung basically tackling him. “Dude what the fuck?”   
“Don’t you what the fuck me! If anyone should say that it should be me Lix!” Jisung pushes him slightly, not enough to knock him over though.   
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jisung could see the look of confusion plastered on Felix’s face.   
“It’s all over school dude! ‘Changbin hyung!’ Seriously??? You’re calling him hyung now what happened?”  
“Wow news travels fast around here I guess.. it’s nothing Sung! He and I were assigned on a school project together. He’s actually not as bad as everyone portrays him to be though really I promise!”   
“Dude just be careful okay? I won’t lecture you like I know Chan hyung probably will, but I care about you, you know that right?”   
“Yeah, yeah I know! Now come on I’ll race you to Minho hyung’s car!” And with that they are running across the parking lot, the topic completely dropped until they got into the car of course. Jisung just had to tell the others of Felix’s school project partner, causing everyone to freak out.   
Felix just laughs at his friends craziness, annoyance melting into amusement. He was going to change everyone’s mind about Changbin one way or another. 

—

Changbin couldn’t wait to get home. The shift at the bookstore wasn’t that bad, but it never was. He just couldn’t wait to get home because he had a gift for Jeongin. It’s not often he could give his brother something big because of their money issues. Bills and food always coming first, and anything unnecessary came last. He had secretly been putting money aside for a year or so now without telling Jeongin. He skipped a few meals and went longer in between buying clothes for himself, but it was all worth it. He couldn’t wait to see the look on his younger brothers face.   
“Jeongin I’m home!” Just like everyday he was met with a smaller body colliding with his. He wrapped his arms around the younger boy. “Hey bud! Come outside with me for a couple minutes.” The boy tilted his head to the side in confusion, but followed the boy nonetheless.   
“Okay so what exactly am I suppose to be looking at here?” Jeongin was even more confused than before. All that was sitting in the driveway was Changbin’s car like normal.   
“Your car!”  
“But.. hyung this is your car?”  
“Not anymore,” he pulls the keys out of his pocket handing them to his brother, who had just gotten his license a few weeks prior.   
“How are you going to be getting around though?”  
“Mark hyung has a friend who has a motorcycle, I looked at it after school today. He gave it to me for a cheaper price because he was desperate to get rid of it. I had been saving up to buy you a car for about a year now, but I figured this car is more reliable than others I could get for what I saved up. So what do you think?”   
Without warning Jeongin was in his brothers arms close to tears. “Thank you hyung! Thank you so much oh my god this is amazing!”   
“Want to take it for a spin? I need someone to drive me over to Mark hyungs friend’s place to pick up my new ride.”   
The smile on Jeongin’s face was probably the brightest one Changbin had seen in years. He didn’t even answer he just opened the drivers side door and got in. Changbin getting in just moments after. “You know hyung a motorcycle is so not going to help your reputation,” this caused both boys to start laughing. The younger boy is not wrong though, Changbin had thought of this when he looked at the motorcycle earlier, but he really didn’t care what the people at school thought. Well maybe he cared about what one boy thought, but Felix hadn’t judged him so far, so Changbin had hope that Felix would still see the best of him.


	14. Chapter 14

Felix woke up more excited than he had even on the day he was going to find out about whether he got on the dance team. Today was the day he would get to spend some time with Changbin outside of class, and maybe get to know him better. Sure they would do school work too. Felix still had no idea how he was going to convince Chan that Changbin wasn’t as bad as he thought though. Maybe just them being in the same apartment together for a couple hours will help, or it could make things worse. Felix isn’t completely sure which way it was going to go.   
He was picked up by Minho and Jisung as usually. When he got in the car he greeted them. “By the way Minho hyung, you don’t need to drive me home after school!”  
“Why is that Lix-ah?” Minho looks at him through his rear view window.   
“Oh well umm.. today is when I’m working on my project with Changbin.. hyung,” Felix can feel his cheeks heating up as he calls the elder his hyung. He paused before calling him that not sure how the others would react considering Jisung made a huge fuss about it yesterday, and of course they do give him shit about it like he thought they would.   
“Are you all working on it at school then because I can come back to pick you up if Chan or Woojin can’t,” honestly as much as Minho teases him, Felix can tell how much he truly cares about him. It makes his heart warm.   
“No that’s okay hyung! We are actually working on it at the apartment, Changbin hyung said he would give me a ride!”  
“Oh I bet he did,” Felix looks at the huge smirk on Jisung’s face, realizing he means that in a totally different way than Felix did.   
“Oh my god Sung shut up!” His cheeks are on fire now as the blush spreads at his friends innuendo. “Like I told you yesterday he’s really not like everyone seems to think he is..”  
“Just,” Minho starts but Felix knows what he’s going to say.   
“Just be careful, yeah I know I know!” He huffs. “Everyone acts like I can’t take care of myself!”  
“Hey.. Lix you know that isn’t the case right? It’s not that we think you can’t take care of yourself we just care about you, and don’t want you to get hurt.”  
“Yeah I know hyung.. thank you,” Felix decides for now to drop it, hoping he could maybe get them all to meet Changbin one day so they can see what he sees. 

—

Changbin wakes up actually on time for once in his life. He even shocks himself. Somehow Jeongin is already gone though Changbin notes when he sees his car, no wait Jeongin’s car, isn’t in the drive way. This is the first time Jeongin hasn’t gotten to drive to school though so makes sense he would get there early, especially if that means he gets a chance to study before classes. Changbin is so glad to know that Jeongin actually cares about school. Not that Changbin himself doesn’t, but he doesn’t have the time to worry about it too much.   
After getting dressed and grabbing a quick breakfast he makes his way outside to his new motorcycle. It is in no way anything fancy, but it didn’t need to be. As long as it ran Changbin was happy. He had only driven a motorcycle a few times in his life, and he knows it’s going to take a little while to adjust to it after driving his car for a couple years. It is cheaper to maintain though which is always a plus now that they have two vehicles.   
Once he parks in the school parking lot he can feel all eyes on him. This is nothing new, he’s used to people staring. He can see all his classmates eying his new baby too. Oh they are going to have a field day with this. Schools resident bad boy, now driving a motorcycle. Can you get anymore cliche than that? It causes Changbin to chuckle a little. 

—

Felix sees Changbin several times throughout the day, which is actually true almost everyday. He just isn’t sure if the older boy wants him to talk to him outside of class. Sure Changbin is sweeter than most people in school give him credit for, but that doesn’t mean he’s suddenly open to being friendly with someone even if he lets that someone call him hyung. So, Felix holds back, even though he doesn’t want to. He decides he can ask Changbin about it later in class or when he’s over at his apartment if it’s okay for him to talk to him whenever. Felix just doesn’t want to overstep his bounds, and have Changbin push him away.   
Felix is surprised to see that Changbin isn’t asleep on his desk when he enters their writing class. “Hey hyung not as tired today as normal?” Felix jokes with the older, then frowns hoping that it’s okay to do so since they haven’t really before.   
“Yeah I guess not,” Changbin looks up at him, noting his frown he asks, “what’s wrong Lix?”  
Felix doesn’t know if he will ever get used to Changbin calling him that. So many people have called him that in his life, but for some reason it’s so different hearing it come from the older boy. “Umm nothing serious! I guess I was just wondering.. are we friends?”  
Changbin looks taken aback by the question, but quickly recovers, “do you want us to be?”  
“Well I mean yeah of course hyung!”  
“Well then yeah we are friends Lix, I mean I did let you call me hyung,” Changbin teases. “I don’t let many people call me that.”  
“Yeah I’ve noticed, why is that?” Felix can immediately tell he’s asked too much by the look on Changbin’s face, “nevermind hyung don’t worry about it, we just became friends and here I am being too nosy!” Changbin laughs, but Felix can tell it’s fake. Their conversation ends when the teacher clears her throat indicating that she was going to start teaching.   
Finally the bell rings meaning the end of class. Changbin offers to walk Felix to his locker considering he doesn’t have to since he grabbed his backpack before class. Felix can feel people staring, and he hates it. It happened so much at his old school after he was outed. He can feel himself getting more and more uncomfortable, but there isn’t anything he can really do about it. He guesses he should get used to it if he’s going to hang around Changbin more like he hopes he can.   
When they reach his locker Felix feels like he might start crying from all the nasty looks. He holds it in best he can. He doesn’t want anyone to see him like that. He definitely doesn’t want Changbin to see him like that.  
They finally make there way out to the parking lot, and Felix starts walking over to Changbin’s car. “Where are you going Lix?” Changbin questions him.   
Felix points, “to your car?”   
“And how do you know which is my car? Have you been watching me?” Changbin quirks his head to the side a smirk plastered on his face.   
“N-no hyung! I’ve just noticed you get in it!”  
“Relax Felix! I’m just messing with you! It’s actually not my car anymore though, I’ve traded it for something else.”  
“Oh okay lead the way then,” Felix feels so flustered not expecting Changbin to say something like that. This boy is truly going to kill him one day.   
His eyes bulge out of his head when he sees Changbin stop next to a motorcycle, and he’s totally not proud of it and will deny it if anyone asks but he might have squeaked. The reaction causes giggles to erupt out of Changbin, and Felix swears he would do just about anything to hear that noise again.   
“Do you trust me Lix?” He hands Felix the motorcycle helmet.  
Felix nods before putting the helmet on then he realizes something. “Wait hyung what about you?”  
“I only have one helmet, but it’s okay don’t worry about me,” he says as he fixes the strap on the helmet to fit better on Felix’s head. He gets on the bike and looks back at Felix, “you gonna hop on or not?” After some hesitation he gets on behind Changbin not knowing what to do with his hands. “Lix you need to hold on to me tight.” Even with his nerves he feels a smile creep on his face as he wraps his arms around the boy in front of him. Oh Chan is so going to kill him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry it’s been like 84 years since I last updated!!

Felix might have been a bit hesitant riding on the motorcycle with Changbin at first, but after a minute he doesn’t think he’s ever been this alive. He had told Changbin the address before hand and thankfully the older boy knew where it was, so they didn’t have to worry about having to scream at each other to be able to understand. So, Felix just got to enjoy the ride, and enjoy he certainly did. He never thought he would be able to get this close to the older boy, at least not this soon. His arms are wrapped tightly around his waist and chest flush against Changbin’s back. Everything seemed to go by faster than in a car, even though Changbin wasn’t a crazy driver at all. It felt like they made it to Felix’s apartment way too soon, and he couldn’t help but feel disappointed as he dismounted the bike. He immediately took the helmet off, and then regretted it knowing his hair is probably now a completely mess. He didn’t want to look bad in front of the older boy. He handed the helmet back to Changbin, who hooked it on one of the handles.   
“So was it as scary as you thought it would be?” Changbin said poking fun at Felix’s earlier reaction to first seeing the bike.   
“No! Oh my god that was amazing, I loved it so much thanks for giving me a ride Changbin hyung!!” Felix smile made his eyes turn into crescents, and Changbin felt his heart flutter at the sight. How could a boy be so beautiful? Changbin had no idea.   
“No problem Lix! We can definitely do it again sometime if you like it that much,” Changbin would do anything to see Felix smile. He wanted to see it every day of his life.  
The boys made their way inside of the apartment taking their shoes off at the door. “Channie hyung! Woojin hyung! I’m home!” Felix yelled, not knowing if either were there.   
“Lixie!” Chan came out of his and Woojin’s shared bedroom looking at his phone. He looked up and noticed the other boy next to Felix. “Oh Changbin, I forgot you were coming over today,” you could immediately tell the shift in his mood at the sight of the boy.   
“Hello Chan-ssi,” Changbin said shyly. He knew Chan didn’t like him very much, hell most people didn’t. He was gonna try to be nice and hope Chan changed his mind because he really wanted to see Felix more outside of school if his crazy schedule permitted it. He knew he had to get on Chan’s good side.   
“How did you all get here did Min drive you?” Chan directed towards Felix.   
“Uhh.. no Changbin hyung drove us over.”   
“Oh,” Changbin could hear the uneasiness of Chan’s voice. “Okay well uh, I guess you all should probably get started on your project right? The dining room table is clear so that’s probably the best place to work on it!”  
“Hyung we can work on it in my room, it would be more comfortable that way.”  
“Felix..” Chan’s voice was stern, there was no way he was letting Changbin be alone with his little brother in his room.   
“Lix it’s fine we can work out here it’s not a big deal.” Changbin hoped agreeing with Chan would make him happy, but he didn’t miss the older boy’s eyes squint at him when he called Felix his nickname.   
A few hours later and a lot of brainstorming and outlining of their paper and the boys were ready to call it quits. “I think we have a pretty good base for what we are going for maybe we should quit while we are ahead?” Felix offered and Changbin agreed nodding to the boy. “I’m not kicking you out though! Maybe you could stay for dinner? Or we could play some video games? Or whatever you want ya know.” Felix was rambling at this point and Changbin found it so adorable.   
He looked at his phone and saw that it was just past 6. “I’ll have to maybe rain check on that Lix, I should probably get going soon.” He could see the disappointment on Felix’s face and he hated it.   
“Promise?”  
“Huh?”  
“You promise we can hang out sometime?”  
“Yeah of course we can, uh well you know if it’s okay with Chan..” Changbin looked over to where Chan was sitting in the living room. He hadn’t left the entire time the boys were working on their project. Felix took his reply as a yes for now not wanting to push his luck with how Chan was acting at the moment.   
Felix walked Changbin to the door and waited as the boy put his shoes back on. “Bye hyung! Have a safe trip home!” Felix waved at the older boy as he walks towards his motorcycle receiving a bye from him. He shuts the door and within seconds is jumping on Chan. “Really? I can’t even work on my project with him in my own room? What do you think he’s going to do to me hyung?”  
“I’m sorry Lixie! I’m just trying to take care of you okay? I know we are best friends and brothers, but I also kind of have to act as a parent here. I want to make sure you’re safe, it’s my top priority.”  
Felix huffs and walked into his bedroom shutting the door behind him. He knows his brother is just trying to do the right thing in his eyes, but he can’t help but to be mad. 

—

Changbin feels bad leaving Felix like that when the younger boy looked so excited to spend time with him. He truly did want to stay and hang out with him doing something not related to school, but he needed to get home to Jeongin. Like always he was tackled by his younger brother the second he walked through the door. “How was hanging out with Felix?” Jeongin asked wiggling his eyebrows.   
Changbin smacked him on the arm before responding with, “we weren’t hanging out, we were working on a project!”  
“Hyungie’s blushing!! Wow I’ve never seen this before, you must really like him!”   
“Shut up!” Changbin started chasing Jeongin around the house threatening to tickle him if he doesn’t stop his questioning. Jeongin of course doesn’t go out without a fight, and it ends with them on the floor out of breath laughing so hard.


	16. Chapter 16

Changbin and Felix text non stop during the weekend. Even though Changbin has 2 jobs they both are slow and have a lot of down time. Before Felix, he would easily get bored at his jobs when no customers would come in, but now he can just text the younger and get a response in seconds. That was one thing about Felix, he always texted back super fast. Speaking of the boy, Changbin’s phone dings signifying he got a text. 

Felix: you can’t be serious?? Marvel is way better than DC

Changbin: no way! The flash is the best superhero 

Felix: how could you say such a thing when Spider-Man exists? And to think I considered you a friend

Changbin: okay not going to lie I’ve never seen a Spider-Man movie..

Felix: WHAT

Felix: friendship:cancelled

Changbin: okay whatever drama queen

Felix: huh suddenly I can’t read

Changbin: well I mean you are pretty shit at Korean

Felix: what is this slander??

Changbin: oh but you could read that huh

Changbin: okay how about this I’ll watch the new Spider-Man movies if you give DC movies a chance

Felix: okay deal

Felix: I’m ready for you to admit how right I am 

Changbin: yeah we will see about that

Changbin can’t help the smile that has spread on his face. He loves talking to Felix, and he really hopes the younger feels the same way. “What’s got you so happy?” He hears the voice right next to him causing him to jump. 

“Jackson! Don’t scare me like that!” 

“Yeah yeah.. who are you texting?”

“No one!” Changbin locks his phone and puts it in his pocket to get it away from his hyung. 

“I bet it’s that kid from your school you told me about! What was his name?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Changbin feigns ignorance, as he goes back to putting the books on the shelf next to him. 

“Felix! That was his name right?” At the mention of his name Changbin stops, his ears going red. “Yepp that was it! You worked on the project the other day right? How did that go?”

Changbin sighs realizing Jackson isn’t going to drop the subject, “would have been better if his brother wasn’t sitting like 10 feet from us the entire time watching me like a hawk.”

“Aw did little Binnie want some alone time with his crush?” Jackson speaks with a baby voice that Changbin hates to no end. 

“Shut up. I don’t even care about the alone time that much, I just don’t like how much he hates me. I know it’s my fault for feeding these rumors about me, but I really like Felix. I have a feeling that nothing will happen with him though because of Chan.” Changbin visibly deflates. 

“Chan who?”

“Bang Chan.”

“Oh shit really?”

“Wait you know him?”

“Bin your forgetting I graduated from the same school you go to. I was a senior when he transferred here sophomore year. I wouldn’t say we were best friends or whatever, but he’s really good friends with Mark and my friend Bambam. Maybe I could put in a good word?”

“No! That would be so weird, I’ll figure it out. I don’t know how I will, but I will.”

“Okay if you say so bud,” Jackson pats him on the back, “I’ll let you get back to work.” 

——

Changbin had stopped responding to Felix awhile ago, so he figured that the older boy was busy. Felix really enjoyed texting him, he felt the butterflies in his stomach every time his phone went off. His phone dinged again, but this time it was Jisung. Felix almost forgot about their plans to go shopping today. 

Jisung: alright bitch I’m on my way

Felix: and by that you mean Minho is on his way with your ass in tow

Jisung: don’t call me out like this 

Felix: well someone has to

Jisung: well fuck you too

Felix laughs at his dumb friend. He gets out of his bed and gets dressed in record time. He races out of his room towards the front door, and Chan and Woojin give him a weird look as he runs past them. “Where are you going?” He hears Chan asks once he reaches the front door. 

“Minho is picking me up and dropping Jisung and I off at the mall! I told you about this yesterday Channie hyung,” Felix replies as he puts his shoes on. 

“Oh yeah, well have fun!” Felix smiles at his hyung, telling him that he will, and is out the door.

He hops in Minho’s car greeting the elder and Jisung. The jam to Twice’s new album until they finally reach the mall. He and Jisung thank Minho for driving them, and run inside. 

“Okay so food or shopping first?” Jisung asks dramatically like it is a life or death decision. 

“Food please I’m starving!” After ordering and finding an empty table they eat like they haven’t eaten in days. They are teenage boys what else would you expect? After a few minutes of silence as they enjoy their food Felix breaks it. “Okay so I need some advice.”

“And you are coming to me? Okay that’s your first mistake my friend. Why don’t you go to Chan hyung about it?”

“He’s part of what I need advice about..”

“Oh well okay shoot man, I’ll try to help,” that’s one thing Felix loves about his best friend, he’s goofy as hell, but when Felix really needs him to be serious Jisung can step up and help. 

“So, I know how you and legit everyone else feels about him, but I really like Changbin hyung..” he can see Jisung open his mouth to start speaking, probably to tell him that he’s stupid for liking him, but he cuts him off, “no let me finish please! I don’t think anyone really knows what he’s truly like. He’s really nothing like everyone says he is. He’s sweet and funny. He is really patient when I’m struggling to get my words out because I don’t know how to express what I’m thinking in Korean. He’s so smart Jisung! Honestly it’s so much more than a crush at this point, but Chan absolutely can’t stand him, and I don’t know what to do!” Felix is almost out of breath when he stops speaking. He’s been holding it in, and he’s really needed someone to talk to about this. 

“Wow.. okay I really had no idea that you liked him this much! I really thought it was just an infatuation, and you had a thing for bad boys.” 

“That’s just it Jisung! I really don’t think he is a bad boy, I can’t explain it, but I think that everyone has him all wrong and he just don’t care enough to correct them. When he came over to work on the project he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. He was super polite to Chan hyung, but it doesn’t matter he has his mind made up. He wouldn’t let us work on it in my room, he made us do it in the dining room where he watched us the entire time!”

Jisung couldn’t help but laugh at that, but after a glare from Felix he stopped, “sorry totally not funny at all!”

“I wish he could just trust my judgment on this!”

“I’m sorry Lix, you know how much Chan hyung loves you. He just doesn’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know, but I should be able to decide if this is worth getting hurt over.” Jisung pats him on the shoulder not really knowing what else to tell his Australian friend. “Thanks for listening though man, let’s just finish up so we can go shopping, yeah?”

Jisung looks at him worriedly, but agrees hoping that he can get Felix’s mind off of things even for just a few hours.


	17. Chapter 17

The truth was while as a whole living in Korea had been a dream come true for Felix, and he’s so glad to be out from under his parents roof in Australia, things weren’t exactly perfect. Sure he was able to be out and proud gay with his brother and friends accepting him. And yes he loved being on the dance team, feeling like he belonged somewhere was something Felix had searched for his whole life. Now he had Changbin as a friend, and he is so glad to be able to be closer to the boy. But there was still the bullying. 

Felix hasn’t told anyone about it because he didn’t want to bother anyone. It’s his battle and he should fight it, and it’s not like he isn’t used to it from his old school. Most of it is subtle and not that big of a deal he reasons with himself, like people poking fun at his broken Korean or the accent he has when he is able to speak it more fluently. He can hear the snickers every time he is asked to answer one of the questions in class. They are just waiting for him to mess up the pronunciation. 

There is also the less than subtle bullying too. Since he was moving to a new country and already made friends before school started who were also gay, he didn’t feel the need to hide that part of himself once school started. That didn’t seem to stop some of his classmates from calling him slurs or shoving him against lockers. Of course it was the guys from the basketball team, because it couldn’t get anymore cliche than that except for maybe the football team if he was an American student. There were 4 of them that usually join in on what they call ‘the fun’ of torturing Felix. They always did it when he was alone, probably because they were scared of Minho considering he’s an upperclassman and can be intimidating when he wants to be. 

It hurt Felix’s feelings a bit, but honestly it wasn’t as bad as the school back in Australia, so he just didn’t do anything about it. He could live with it, he would tell himself. He knew that if any of the guys found out they would be pissed and would end up getting in trouble for starting a fight with his bullies. Or worse they could tell Chan. His brother was already overprotective enough, he really didn’t need him to become more so. So Felix just suffered in silence. 

So far, this week seemed to be better than most. There hadn’t been any shoving so far, and he had only been called a fag once, honestly Felix might even consider this progress. That of course changed Wednesday morning. Felix decided to go to school early to work on some of his school work in the library. He wanted to do a little more research on the poem he is working on with Changbin. As he is walking down one of the hallways he sees the same boys who bully him have a smaller boy cornered. Felix recognizes him, but can’t place a name to his face. He knows he’s a sophomore though. 

Felix takes a deep breath knowing he’s probably going to regret what he is about to do, but knows that he can’t just let them hurt this poor boy. “Hey! Leave him alone!”

The boys turn around to look at him and a smile spreads on their ‘leaders’ face. “Oh look boys the fag wants to play too.” Felix winces as the slur leaves the boys lips. Well Felix has gotten their attention off the smaller boy, so he guesses that’s good. 

Felix is pretty fed up with these guys at this point, “you know they say that guys who are homophobic are secretly gay and hate themselves too much to admit it.” He immediately regrets those words as he sees the look of rage on the other guys face. 

“What the hell did you just say to me you queer fuck?!” Just then a teacher walks out of a classroom at the end of the hall, and is making her way towards them. It doesn’t look like she’s heard any of the conversation, and she’s probably just making her way to the teachers lounge, but Felix hopes she will do something. The bully sees her as well and quickly says, “don’t think I won’t forget about this fag.” He motions the other boys to follow him before they get into trouble. 

Once they are out of sight Felix runs up to the boy asking if he’s okay. He responds with a nod before he leans down to pick up his books Felix guess the guys threw to the ground. He bends down to help the boy. He hands the books to him and asks, “what’s your name?”

“Jeongin,” the boy responds with a small smile, Felix can tell it’s fake and the boy is trying to just be nice. He knows how the younger boy must be feeling after those guys were messing with him. 

“Well Jeongin are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine now thank you, you know you really shouldn’t have done that by the way. I’m used to it by now.”

“Well you shouldn’t have to be used to it. Are you headed to the library?” Jeongin nods and Felix continues, “I’m going there too, why don’t we walk together, yeah?”

Jeongin agrees and they fall into a bit of silence as they walk. “Oh I’m Felix by the way! Sorry how rude of me not to introduce myself!”

Jeongin giggles at that, “it’s okay I already know who you are, we don’t get new students too often so people talk, ya know?”

Yes Felix does know, and he hates it. All the attention, some of it good, but most negative. It really gets to him. “Yeah I do. So you’re a sophomore right? I think I’ve seen you around before,” he tried to change the topic. 

“Yeah I am! And your a junior! Also your friends with Seungmin right? He’s in my choir class, I think I’ve heard him talk about you.”

“All good things I hope?” Felix jokes, “but yeah he is my friend! First friend I made when I moved here, because his brother is dating my brother.” 

“No he talks shit about you constantly,” Felix’s eyes widen in shock, “Felix-ssi I’m joking! He loves you and talks about how awesome you are.” Jeongin starts laughing at the look on Felix’s face. “Sorry isn’t it too soon to be joking with you like this? I don’t really have any friends, so I’m unsure.” This makes Felix think about some of his first conversations with Changbin. 

“No of course it’s fine Jeongin! And you can call me hyung if you like? I think you are pretty cool and I love love to be your friend, if you want to be my friend that is.”

Jeongin can’t speak for a moment he is so surprised, but eventually he agrees saying he would like to be Felix’s friend. They make it to the library and sit at computers next to each other, so they can talk as they do school work. Felix quickly finds out how smart Jeongin is, and of course he tells the younger such. 

Jeongin blushes and tries to be modest about it, but Felix won’t let him. “Hey be proud of it! Seriously that’s awesome I wish I could be smarter.”

“I’m sure you’re very smart hyung! It’s just taking you a little while to adjust to the Korean school system.”

“Yeah maybe.. so wait you said you are in choir with Seungmin! Are you any good?”

“Oh.. uh well I’m okay I guess? I feel like it’s hard for me to judge my own vocals.”

“Yeah that’s understandable, I’m on the dance team! I guess I’m pretty good at it,” Felix feels the need to add on trying to make some connection with the younger through music. 

“Really? That’s so cool!” They end up talking way more than doing school work, but neither of the boys mind because they have made a new friend. Before they know it the bell rings signifying that first period will start soon. 

“Man I didn’t realize we had been here that long! I gotta go, but Jeongin do you want to sit with my friends and I at lunch?” 

Jeongin gladly accepts, and he may or may not have cried a little after Felix left, because finally he has made a friend. He can’t wait to tell Changbin. His eyes widen, he hadn’t thought of that! He just made friends with Changbin’s crush, maybe he could help his brother get the guy he likes!


	18. Chapter 18

Felix made his way to the lunchroom after his first few classes, walking towards the back where his friends normally sit. He’s greeted with most of his friends already being there, Jisung and Minho fighting over a sandwich the younger had brought. He chuckles at them as he takes a seat, “hey I invited someone to sit with us today, I hope that’s okay!”

“Oh is it Changbin?” Jisung wiggles his eyebrows at the boy. 

Felix flicks him on the head before retorting, “no it isn’t Changbin-hyung!” He looks around the lunch room and not much later Jeongin leaves the kitchen area with his tray of food. “Jeongin over here!” He yells to the younger to get his attention. Jeongin smiles once he sees Felix and makes his way over, sitting next to him. “Everyone this is my new friend Jeongin! Seungmin you know him from choir right?”

Seungmin nods greeting the younger boy, “how did you all meet then? I didn’t know you had classes with sophomores Felix,” he questions the Australian. 

“Oh I don’t we met this morning on the way to the library!” Felix says leaving out what happened before the library because he wasn’t sure if Jeongin wanted people to know about what happened. 

“Yeah Felix hyung saved my ass this morning from a couple of juniors,” Jeongin said rolling his eyes thinking about the stupid jocks from that morning. 

The other boys eyes widened hearing what Jeongin had said Minho being the first to speak up, “are you okay? They didn’t hurt you did they?” He’s not sure why he was so protective over this sophomore after just meeting him. 

“I’m fine don’t worry! It happens a lot actually, but it’s no big deal,” he gives them the fake smile he gave Felix earlier that day, and it makes Felix a little sad. 

“Well if they ever give you a problem again, send them my way, yeah?” Minho offers him and Jeongin agrees seeing the determination on his face. 

“I’m honestly more worried about Felix now.. they didn’t seem very happy with them, I hope they don’t go after you now I would feel so bad if they do!” He looks over at Felix with sadness in his eyes. 

Felix just smiles at him in return, “don’t worry about me Jeongin I can handle myself I promise!” He internally winces at his own words, thinking maybe he shouldn’t have promised because he doesn’t really know what’s in store for him now with his new school bullies. 

Jeongin ends up getting on well with all of Felix’s friend, which makes Felix so happy that he can add more to his growing family. They all exchange numbers with the now youngest member of their friend group, and offered to let him come to their next movie night. Jeongin has never been this happy before, first he gets a car from his amazing older brother and now a whole friend group when he not even a day before had no friends. 

—

Felix felt so happy all day long not even his classes putting a damper on his new mood. He walked into his writing class with the same skip in his step and smile on his face, and Changbin definitely noticed. “What’s got you in such a good mood Lixie?” Changbin says instead of his normal greeting. 

“Oh Changbin hyung, I made a new friend today!” Felix’s smile grew wider. “I don’t know if you know him because he’s a sophomore, but his names Jeongin!”

Changbin was taken aback for a second at the mention of his baby brothers name, “uh yeah I know him, that’s great Lix I’m happy for you!” He managed to get out without showing any sign of weirdness. 

“Yeah he’s really great, I can tell we are going to be good friends already! I’m glad I got to school early or I would have never met him, well that and who knows what those stupid basketball players would have done.. did you know he gets bullied by upperclassmen? It makes me so mad..” Felix started ranting, he figured that since Jeongin had mentioned it at lunch he wouldn’t have cared about it being talked about. 

Changbin is feeling so happy that his brother is finally making friends. He knew that the younger always struggled with talking to people, and the fact that it was Felix who befriended him made it even better because he knew that he was in good hands. The second that Felix mentioned the bullying though Changbin’s heart stopped. Jeongin had never mentioned being bullied before. He felt anger boil inside of him, how could anyone do that to his little brother? Changbin hated violence in every way but hearing this made him want to go beat the shit out of every single member of the basketball team. “No I didn’t know that..” he said quietly, not able to say much more, worried he would give away too much of his anger. 

—

After he gets off at the book store, Changbin makes his way home. He is greeted by Jeongin as always, but he holds onto the younger boy longer than normal. “Hyung you never hug me this long what’s up with you today?”

Changbin pulls back but still keeps his hands on Jeongin‘s arms, “why didn’t you tell me you were getting bullied Innie?” Changbin’s eyes are full of sadness as he looks his little brother over. 

“I- I don’t know hyung.. how did you find out?” Jeongin can’t look at his brother in the face, he never wanted him to know because he didn’t want to cause problems. 

“Doesn’t matter how I know, what matters is that I know now, yeah? So if they cause you anymore trouble I’m going to beat their asses.” Jeongin has never seen Changbin this angry before in his life. 

“Hyung I’m fine I promise.. please don’t get into trouble defending me okay? It’s not worth it!” Jeongin knew that the school knows of the rumors about his older brother. Even though they know of what happened to their parents, they would have no issue expelling Changbin if he caused even a small issue with his reputation. “Plus I think they care more about Felix now than me.. you should have heard them hyung. They were calling him names and threatening him. I don’t think it’s the first time either..” Jeongin got quiet, he felt bad sharing this because he felt like it could be breaking some trust that he had with Felix, but at the same time this was serious. 

Changbin froze and his jaw locked thinking about anyone saying something bad to Felix, probably the cutest boy in the world other than his little brother, “what did they call him?” 

Jeongin sighed thinking back to the events from that morning, “fag and queer..” he whispers. 

“Okay well don’t worry about him okay? Felix has a lot of friends watching out for him and I’ll keep an eye on him too. I can’t believe these guys are treating both of you like this.” Jeongin nodded trusting his brother to know what to do. He felt a weight being lifted now that he knew what was going on.


End file.
